M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives
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Vicki Baum Papers, 1929â1953
Scope and content note

The collection, which consists of approximately 820 items, is divided
into two sections: correspondence. and manuscripts. The correspondence
dates from October 1, 1929 to April 24, 1953 and concerns Vicki Baum's
works published by Doubleday, Doran and Co. (N.Y.): Grand Hotel,
Secret Sentence, Helene, Men Never Know, The Ship and the Shore, Marion
Alive, Weeping Wood, Danger from Deer, Headless Angel.
Included in the correspondence are 166 L. by Vicki Baum, 249 L. to
Vicki Baum and 397 third party L. The manuscripts consist of notes
and synopses of the following works: Marion Alive, Men Never Know,
A Tale of Bali, The Weeping Wood.

Vicki Baum Papers, 1929â1953
Biographical History

Vicki Baum, whose original name was Hedwig Baum was born in Vienna to a Jewish
family on January 24, 1888, the only child of Herman and Matilda Baum. At the
age of eight, Baum began studying at the Vienna Conservatory of Music, where
she spent her time mastering the harp. Throughout her childhood, Baum had a
passion for writing short stories and won certain school prizes, but her father
discouraged her from a writing career. In 1906, she began her studies at the
Hochschule fÃ¼r Musik and began playing professionally in different orchestras
such as the Vienna Konzert Verein. At the age of eighteen, Baum married journalist
Max Prels. Through her husband's career as a journalist, Baum had the opportunity
to showcase some of her literary work to publishers. For the first time in Baum's
life, she experienced the lifestyle of a writer and in 1909 she published her
first short story.

In 1910, Baum divorced and subsequently moved to Germany where she taught the
harp at the musical high school of Darmstadt. With the onset of World War I,
Baum temporarily worked as a nurse while gradually pursuing her literary passion.
In 1914, Baum published her first novel Fruhe Schatten (Early Shadows).
In 1916 Baum married conductor Richard Lert and they had two children. In the
years following her second marriage, Baum gave up her music career to travel
with her husband to various European towns where she was introduced to different
cultures. In 1926, Baum was hired at Ullstein, one of the biggest German publishers
at the time. Baum was editing magazine articles during the day and was writing
her own novels at night. In 1928 she published Stud. Chem. Helene Willfuer
(Helene) and in 1929 Menschem im Hotel (Grand Hotel), novels which
explore the struggles of human motives and life altering events. Grand Hotel
became Baum's most notable piece of literature and was turned into a play by
Max Reinhardt that was performed throughout Europe and the United States.